Although utilizing multiple threads at a processing device can generally improve processing efficiency, multithreading implementations often are at risk of failing to ensure forward progress for all threads available for execution. Techniques have been developed in an attempt to ensure that one thread, or a small subset of threads, does not continuously occupy a processing device. One conventional technique for forward progress is to utilize an instruction counter to ensure that each thread, upon selection, executes for at least a minimum number of instructions before it can be switched out for another thread. However, livelock situations between multiple threads can result because this technique, while ensuring that a minimum number of instructions of a thread are executed before the thread can be switched out, does not ensure that it is not the same instructions being executed again and again. Accordingly, an improved technique for facilitating forward progress in a multithreaded processing system would be advantageous.